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Lacy Starling is the President of Legion Logistics, LLC, a third-party logistics provider located in Florence, Kentucky. Legion Logistics specializes in full truckload, less-than-truckload, government freight, hazardous materials and produce shipping.

Mother and daughter duo, Dr. AnnMaria De Mars and Maria Burns Ortiz are the tech founders of 7 Generation Games. A Santa Monica, California-based company that focuses on making educational video games that combine math, history, and adventure gaming. Dr. AnnMaria De Mars serves as its company president and Mara Burns Ortiz serves as the chief executive officer. The three-year-old startup was founded as a way to improve math education for all students with an ever-growing line of games, including an upcoming series of bilingual (Spanish/English) games. “When people envision tech founders, especially in the gaming industry, a pair of Latinas – not to mention, a grandmother and mother of three young children – isn’t usually the first thing that pops to mind.” -Maria Burns Ortiz

In elementary school, we were all taught the importance of recycling – collecting newspapers or bottles to start eco-friendly daily habits. Nowadays, universities across the nation engage in sustainability competitions and organize campus sustainability leaders. My own university, the University of Virginia (Wahoowa!), organized events like the Dorm Energy Race in which dorms compete to use the least energy, or the Game Day Challenge in which attendees to a football game are encouraged to recycle. These types of events are emulated throughout various American universities. With buzz phrases like “Go Green” or products ranging from cars to detergents, green practices are a growing addition to our everyday vocabulary and purchasing habits. For example, an ABC award show that recognizes individual and team athletic achievements, the ESPY’s, just went green. In 2015 and 2016, founder and CEO of Three Squares Inc. and former NWBC council member, Jaime Nack, was on site with ESPN greening the ESPY awards of that year.

Time and time again we have been told that access to capital, one of the Council’s four pillars, is the most pressing issue facing women entrepreneurs and small business-owners in America. Include a note on how it’s one of our pillars? Our Fact Sheets cite it[1], scholars support it, and journalists harp on it.[2] But there is more than one arena in which women entrepreneurs need our investment. As part of my research project with the National Women’s Business Council this summer, I sought to explore the ways in which women can invest in women— aside from money. My findings featured eight incredible women who do so on a daily basis, and here I will highlight a few of their key observations. State tuned for a full report to come soon!

Have you ever asked Google search bar how do I market my business? You’re not alone. And let me tell you, you no longer need to ask Google. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat and more, are all at your fingertips.

In an age where inter-state and global connectivity is central to business growth and development, marketing through social media is the move of the decade for businesses– big or small. This strategy has proven to especially benefit small businesses, given its low cost. To the female entrepreneur who hasn’t yet thought about this, think about it now.

Just last week, the Council headed South to Atlanta, GA for our August Public Meeting, entitled Atlanta, A Trailblazing City: The Importance of Diversity and Innovation in Entrepreneurship. This public meeting highlighted the dynamism and immense growth of Atlanta’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, specific to women entrepreneurs. Why Atlanta might you ask? Well, Atlanta, in particular has been ranked in the top 3 amongst the 25 most populous metropolitan areas for the growth of women-owned businesses. In the most recent Survey of Business Owners (2012), there are an estimated 376,506 women-owned enterprises in Georgia, make sure to look at the Georgia state fact sheet. Georgia leads the nation in such growth, particularly for black women entrepreneurs– a tremendous increase of 98,216 enterprises from 2007.

Starting a business? You may want to consider moving to another state. Looking at trends in the development of women-owned businesses, it is apparent that some parts of the country are magnets for entrepreneurship and rapid-growth, while other state business ecosystems are not as flourishing.[1] In an effort to better understand what makes a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem, the Council has launched the ecosystem project, and has been traveling to various cities across the country to learn more about the support system needed to facilitate high-growth in women-owned businesses. Recently, the Council released state factsheets, which reveal 2012 survey results of business owners on a state-by-state basis. These fact sheets illustrate, compositionally, how the business sector in each state is broken up—by race/ethnicity and industry—as well as fast facts such as percentage of women-owned businesses and generated employment opportunities. However, these state fact sheets only give a broad overview of each state’s business ecosystem; they do not provide adequate information as to what, exactly, each state supports or, in some cases, hinders women’s entrepreneurship.

WASHINGTON – Maria Contreras-Sweet, Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), announced today that she has appointed two new members to the National Women’s Business Council (NWBC). Effective immediately, Jen Earle, CEO of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), and Rose Wang, serial entrepreneur and Women Impacting Public Policy Representative, will each serve a three-year appointment to the council, which advises the President, Members of Congress and the SBA on important issues that impact women business owners, leaders, and entrepreneurs.

As the clichéd saying goes, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” However, this is just what eleven-year-old entrepreneur and philanthropist Mikaila Ulmer did after getting stung by a bee. She admits that although at first scared of bees, she became fascinated by their niche and the growing honey bee epidemic.[1] In response to plight of the honey bee, Ulmer came up with Me & the Bees a lemonade company—that uses honey as a natural sweeter—and donates a percentage of its profits to local and international organizations dedicated to ameliorating the condition of bees. Little did Ulmer know that her small lemonade stand would expand into the multi-million-dollar industry that is it today. A couple months ago, Ulmer signed a major deal with Whole Foods so that her sweet treat will appear in more than 55 stores in four southern states: Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana.[2]